MobileMe proving to be valuable to theft victims

Is MobileMe finally worth more than meets the eye? Some theft victims would …

We'll be the first to admit that Apple has made giant strides in improving its MobileMe since last summer. Those of us who had an iTools account back in the day might hold a small grudge, but the services barely resemble one another today. Even so, the cost for one year of service still makes some people wonder if the value justifies the price.

For a small minority, however, the service has paid for itself several times over. These are the people that have tracked their stolen devices with the help of MobileMe. There are many stories that have popped up over the past year, but two fairly recent ones caught our attention.

The first story is of a man living in Pittsburgh who was held up at gunpoint by a trio of 22-year-olds. Rather than risk the consequences of refusing to hand over his valuables, the victim wisely handed over his wallet, credit cards, pin numbers, and iPhone. With the help of MobileMe's Find My Phone feature, however, the police were able to track the suspects to a Walmart, an Eat'n Park, and finally apprehended them at a gas station.

Our second story took a little longer than a night to develop and, instead of an iPhone, the stolen property was a MacBook Pro. When Jeff Blakeman's wife had a MacBook Pro stolen from her checked luggage last summer, he most likely figured the machine was gone for good. It wasn't until six months later when the all-but-forgotten computer showed up on his home computer by way of Back to My Mac.

From there, he was able to recover a great deal of information about the individual using his computer, even after the thief changed account names and passwords. Blakeman got an IP address, pictures of the suspect via the iSight camera, and even a home address, which helped lead the police to his portable. In the end, a year and a day after it disappeared, the MacBook Pro was returned to its rightful owner.

No doubt many of you subscribe to Apple's MobileMe service, so we're wondering: did the ability to track potentially stolen devices have anything to do with your decision? Do you feel like the value of MobileMe justifies the cost? Let us know in comments.